Pacific Rim defies expectations

Rating: 8/10 (14 August 2013)

In 2013, humanity comes under attack by giant alien behemoths known as "Kaiju", emerging from a portal deep beneath the pacific ocean, costing millions of lives. After the world pools its resources together, the Jaeger program is created as a defense against the Kaiju. The "Jaegers" are powerful mech warriors, each piloted by a crew of two pilots, who have their minds connected to function as one with the Jaeger.
Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam), is one such pilot. Who lands in a slump after losing his older brother to a Kaiju. Several years later, with the Jaegers' efficiency and numbers diminishing and the Kaiju advancing, Raleigh is brought in to pilot his old mech, Gypsy Danger, as part of a last-ditch effort to end the war once and for all.
I went into Pacific Rim having very little prior knowledge of the film. I didn't recognize a single actor, nor had I ever seen any of del Toro's movies before. All I expected to see was giant robots punching sea monsters, hopefully with enough intelligence and conviction to warrant my investment. And while the movie did indeed deliver precisely that, the way it went about it turned out to be a delightful surprise.
What I'm specifically talking about is the setting and story. From the trailers I expected the movie to chronicle the origins of the Jaeger program and humanity's stand against the Kaiju. Instead we get a quite smaller scope, with only four Jaegers appearing throughout the film (two of which get very little screen time). To be quite frank, I was actually expecting an army of Jaegers.
I actually liked this more compressed setting. Because even though it's still huge, it's also different, but in a good way. The smaller scope allows more room for character and, dare I say it, humanity to come into the film, and Guillermo del Toro does not let any of it go to waste.
Like I said earlier, I was seriously bummed that half of the Jaegers were destroyed so quickly. They both looked really cool, and then they were just there for about ten minutes. For example: the three-armed red Jaeger, Crimson Typhoon, was defeated embarrassingly quickly, and it was by far the coolest looking one, too.
I also had a few issues with the pacing. The movie opens with a long- winded narrative which, while it does clearly spell out for you what's happened and what the stakes are, I can't help but feel like there was an entire extra movie that was simply tucked away in there, for little to no reason.
I also noticed was that there were a few instances where the CGI effects got a little overblown, especially during the film's climax. Luckily, these moments were few and far between.
Finally, I found the ending to be a little bit too cheesy for my taste. It's not a huge problem, it just bugged me a little
But with that said, there's just so much to love about Pacific Rim. Probably one of my favorite things was that a lot of the generic action blockbuster tropes show up in the movie, only to be either resolved quickly or taken in an unexpected direction. My personal favorite example is the rivalry between Raleigh and Chuck (one of Striker's pilots). They run afoul of each other because Chuck sees Raleigh as a has-been, and doesn't want him dragging everyone else down, Raleigh in turn is ticked off by Chuck's acting like a spoiled child and in general just being a massive dick. It's a typical machismo rivalry and I was expecting to hate Chuck up until the climax where he'd "redeem" himself.
Not here. The rivalry is quickly resolved when Gypsy saves Striker from a double Kaiju assault, proving that Raleigh's still got it. Over and done with, bravo.
The cast is all-around very competent, and receive enough character for us to actually root for them and wish for their victory. There is a genuine sense of danger when the Jaegers engage the Kaiju, and I did actually fear for their lives on multiple occasions. Again; bravo.
The action scenes are absolutely superb, both well choreographed and visually stunning. They manage to convey a sense of fun that is sorely lacking in entertainment nowadays.
The Kaiju are extraordinarily terrifying, I was actually a bit frightened by them, which I was also very impressed by. This adds to the element of danger and risk for the characters.
In the end, Pacific Rim is big, exciting, thrilling and ultimately just plain fun.